Jeanne Sylvanie Arnould-Plessy

Who was Jeanne Sylvanie Arnould-Plessy?

Jeanne Sylvanie Arnould-Plessy was a French stage actress.

She was born in Metz, France, the daughter of a local actor named Plessy, and became a pupil of Samson at the Conservatoire in 1829. Plessy made her stage debut as Emma at the Comédie-Française in 1834 in Alexandre Duval's La Fille d'honneur. She had an immense success, and Mlle Mars, to whom the public already compared her, took her up.

Until 1845 she had prominent parts in all the plays, new and old, at the Théâtre Français, when suddenly at the height of her success, she left Paris and went to London to marry the dramatic author, J. F. Arnould, a man much older than herself. The Comédie-Française, after having tried in vain to bring her back, brought a suit against her and obtained damages.

In the meantime, Madame Arnould-Plessy accepted an engagement at the French theatre at St. Petersburg, where she played for nine years and was greatly appreciated by Nicholas I and the Russian aristocracy. In 1855 she returned to Paris and was re-admitted to the Comédie-Française, as pensionnaire in an engagement for eight years. This second part of her career was even more brilliant than the first.